Alternate Endings
by TheCloisterBell
Summary: Alternative ending to Face the Raven – how I'd have preferred it to go down. "I can do anything... Anything! But I'm not supposed to. Ripples, tidal waves. Rules… I'm not supposed to…" "But I will…"
1. Chapter 1

Alternative ending to Face the Raven – how I'd have preferred it to go down. " _I can do anything. But I'm not supposed to. Ripples, tidal waves. Rules… I'm not supposed to…"_

 _"_ _But I will…"_

I own nothing

 **One – The Raven**

The light from the lurkworms shone straight through him, splashing against the cobbles and brickwork as though he were no more substantial than the chilly night air surrounding him. Further down the street, ahead of his vantage point, a door opened. The light from within spilling out, pooling onto the cobbles and momentarily bathing Clara's features in a warm, yellow glow as she stepped outside, her gait somewhat stilted, wooden.

"Clara." He breathed in a tortured whisper. It had felt so long since he'd seen her, he longed to rush forwards and pull her into his embrace... Pull her out of this nightmare. Protect her from what was about to happen.

But he couldn't change what he'd already seen.

 _Ripples, tidal waves. Rules…_

Clara, my impossible girl… The first face this face saw.

 _'_ _The not me one, the asking questions one.'_

He watched Clara force herself to take her final few, faltering steps. Terror and determination fighting with equal ferocity for dominance in her expression. Behind her, the other him looked on in bewildered disbelief that was quickly morphing into horror. Not ready to accept what was to come. As if he could ever be ready for this.

His fault. This was all his fault. He'd seen this coming, of course he had. Her reckless behaviour leading to adrenaline highs, leading to her taking even greater risks, always looking for a bigger high. She hadn't just danced with death, she'd literally thrown herself, laughing, into the jaws of oblivion and dared them to snatch her away.

But her delight had delighted him in turn and he'd smiled and laughed when he should've frowned and scolded. No. More than that. He should've stopped her.

The few attempts he had made to curb her hunger for danger had been unforgivingly pitiful.

 _'_ _I have a duty of care.'_

 _'_ _I know, and it's appreciated.'_

 _'_ _So can I stop now?'_

Pathetic. Selfish. And now Clara was paying the price for his neglect.

He should have known she'd do anything to get that damned chronolock transferred from Rigsy to herself as soon as she suspected it was possible.

He heard the raven's wings fluttering behind him and saw Clara's lips move in a desperate, whispered plea as she faced her end. "Let me be brave." She begged. "Let me be brave."

The Doctor wished she could see him in front of her, wished more than anything that she didn't have to feel she was facing this alone, but the watch kept him concealed. It had to.

 _You can't see me, can you?_

 _You look at me and you… can't see me._

 _Have you any idea what that's like?_

 _I'm not on the phone, I'm right here! Standing in front of you…_

 _Please just… just see me._

As the raven took its final death plunge, Clara stretched out her arms and threw her body forwards.

To be continued…

Would love to hear what you think :-)


	2. Chapter 2

A.N: _loliateyourcat – thank you so much for the review_ _J_

 _Thanks to Kittykatgurrl163, V1rgur, skylar2516 and Jedi Senshi for your favs/follows. You guys are all awesome! I hope this doesn't disappoint_

I own nothing

 **Two – Rules are made to be broken**

 _'_ _I'm so sick of losing._

 _I don't mean the war. I'll lose any war you like. I'm sick of losing people._

 _Look at you._ _With your eyes and your never giving up. And your anger. And your… kindness. And one day… The memory of that will hurt so much that I won't be able to breathe and I'll do what I always do I'll get in my box and I'll run! And I'll run in case all the pain ever catches up and every place I go it will be there!'_

 **Le Verrier lab. In orbit around Neptune.**

 **38** **th** **Century…. Tuesday**

The Doctor slipped, invisible, into the lab. It was several hours before his past self and Clara were due to land on the Neptune satellite. A box of wires, gadgets and circuit boards, also invisible, was tucked under one arm. The sonic glasses weren't going to be enough this time, and so a new sonic screwdriver nestled in his trouser pocket, resting reassuringly against his right hip.

This had to be one of the most improbable, audacious things he'd tried to attempt. But if he could pull it off…

He made his way to the pod he'd seen Clara disappear into, what felt like such a long time ago in his own past, yet mere hours into the future in her current timeline. A wave of relief curdled with anxiety swept through him as the pod sighed open at his touch. It was different. But different was good. The inside of the Morpheus pod was starkly changed from when he'd seen it before. Or more to the point, when he'd seen it before it had been changed from the way it was now…

Which meant that between now and the moment in a few hours' time that Clara was snatched into it, someone changed the purpose of the pod entirely. His wide grin was as invisible as the rest of him as he patted the side of the pod, almost in greeting, before settling down to work, determined that 'that someone' was going to be him.

He had suspected something was off when they'd first landed on the base. Not just the sandman creatures, or their purpose. It was something else altogether. Something contrived... and far more sophisticated than that idiot Gagan Rassmussen could have ever conjured up.

The handiwork had had a touch of familiarity about it. But it wasn't until after… until after Clara… it wasn't until then that he realised this might. Just might. Be a way to save her.

It also wasn't until he'd seen the design of the revamped pod that he even realised it could be possible.

Bootstrap paradox…. But it wasn't like that was new!

He took the spare TARDIS key from his pocket. The key that he'd spent several weeks working on. Modifying its atomic structure, and then tweaking it some more. Priming it to perform the almost unthinkable, the nearly inconceivable, the somewhat impossible…

Not to act as a shield, that wouldn't work against the raven, which was able to traverse all of time and space with a few quantum flaps of its smoky black wings. It was more akin to a key's primary purpose, to open a doorway, but not just an ordinary doorway. A portal to something else entirely.

And genius! Even if he did say so himself.

He remembered to remove the sandman aspect of the Morpheus pod while he was at it. It wouldn't do to have her turning into one of those things after all of this! And after her little sojourn in the sleep pod the last time they were here and he promised her he'd 'sort it' whatever it was that had been done to her, he'd gazed into her trusting brown eyes through the sonic glasses, only to discover there was nothing to fix.

And now the pod was prepared, designed to pull Clara in as soon as she opened it and switch the TARDIS key he'd placed in there for the one she wore around her neck. After rendering her briefly unconscious of course, so she'd be unaware of the exchange. He silently gathered up his things to make his way out of there.

Not a moment too soon it seemed, just as he was slipping out past the bay doors he heard the unmistakeable sound of himself and Clara and the rest of the rescue crew make a frenzied, noisy dash into the lab, panicked and shouting.

It was starting…

He was tempted to stay for a moment, just to see her as he wanted to remember her. Alive, full of energy and fighting back. To erase his last memory of her broken and crumpled on that hidden, damp, London street. But he knew that his close proximity, wearing the invisibility watch, would alert the other version of him and he couldn't risk being detected.

Soundless as a shadow, he made his way out of there and set the coordinates of the TARDIS to fly him back to her.

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 3

A.N: _Thank you so very much to kittykatgurrl63 and Zarius for your very kind reviews. And also to Paige, thereallizzie24 llamawho.101 and Timms for your favs/follows_

 _You guys are awesome_ _J_

I hope this doesn't disappoint

I own nothing

 **Three – Torment**

 _'_ _Fix this. Fix it now.'_

 _'_ _It… it's not possible. I can't'_

 _'_ _Yes, it is, and you can, and you will, or this street will be over. I'll show you and all your funny little friends to the whole, laughing world. I'll bring UNIT, I'll bring the Zygons. Give me a minute, I'll bring the Daleks. And the Cybermen._

 _You will save Clara, and you will do it now, or I will rain hell on you for the rest of time.'_

 **Present day London**

Her shrill, agonised screams rent the night air. He watched her face twist with torture as scream after piercing scream ripped through her. It took every inch of his resolve to hold himself still. Every tense fibre in his being urged him to run to her. To find some way of comforting his best friend. To take the pain away. Take it into himself if he could.

But there was nothing he could do. To all intents and purposes the TARDIS key was working, the raven was been sucked into the local portal the key had created, and every subatomic particle of its being was being forced outside of time and space. Into the abyss between universes, the one place it could never come back from. But the local field was affecting Clara too, despite his best efforts to programme the key to project the portal away from her, it was still touching her at the edges and she was half in and half out of reality.

And it was killing her.

He'd known how big a risk he was taking. How it might not even work and she could end up suffering more than she had to, but it was the only chance he could have given her and he had to try. However the few seconds he was forced to stand in helpless silence, hearing her gut wrenching screams, seeing her face and body contort with agony, knowing his actions were the cause, and not even knowing if they would work, were an infinity of eternal moments filled with fear, pain and deepest regret that it should ever have come to this.

He could see his other self. Frozen like he was, but with shock and disbelief rather than necessity. He knew for the other him, the anguish and self-loathing was still to come, and that right now, nothing could quell the ice and fire of rage burning through his blood. His hearts pounding with the need for revenge.

As the portal closed, silently and invisibly, Clara's limp body folded, collapsing towards the ground. The holographic black smoke he'd created to suit the fiction, mocking rather than reassuring him as it wreathed her pale, lifeless face before dissipating into the chilly, London night. The other him darted forwards as though to catch her, though she'd already fallen. His expression seemed to collapse in on itself, going from disbelieving, to dazed, to lost, to hopeless and then hardening to something bleak and unforgiving as the fury ignited within him. Knowing that no matter what Clara had just said to him. Somebody was going to pay for this. And pay for it dearly.

 _'_ _I can do whatever the hell I like! You've read the stories, you know who I am!_

 _And in all of that time. Did you ever hear anything, about anyone who stopped me?'_

He waited until the other Doctor turned his back, returning to the house to seek out the entity that had caused this and exact his revenge in the most horrific way possible. Knowing that the image of Clara sprawled in the street would stay etched indelibly in his mind. Knowing how broken he was going to feel once the fury and the violence had taken its toll…

As soon as the street was clear he sprinted to her side, invisible. Crashing clumsily and painfully to his knees as he reached her. A tweak of the watch on his wrist and the invisibility shield extended, cloaking her as well as him. He bent down, swiftly but tenderly lifting her lifeless body high into his arms, clutching her tightly to his chest to offset the pull of her dead weight.

 _This is it Clara, this is one of those moments. The darkest day, the blackest hour. Chin up, shoulders back. Let's see what we're made of…. You. And I._

He was desperate to check her, to see if she could even still be alive after that, and if she were, to see how much damage had been done to her body and to her mind. Would there be anything of Clara left behind? But he didn't dare pause, even for a fraction of a second in this shadowy nightmare of a street, where enemies lurked on every corner.

He took off running, panting hard as he ran flat out for the TARDIS.

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

_A.N: Thank you to kittykatgurrl63 and Jedi Senshi for your reviews, they always give me a boost_ _J_

 _To padme's sister, and harrypotter9398, thanks for your follows_

 _As always, you guys are all awesome!_

Hope this doesn't disappoint

I own nothing

 **Four – Damaged**

 _'We all have to face death eventually, be it ours or someone else's'_

 _'I'm not ready yet. I don't want to think about that. Not yet'_

 _'I can't change what's already happened. There are rules…'_

 _'So break them! And anyway. You owe me! You've made yourself essential to me. You've given me something else to... to be… And you can't do that and then die. It's not fair!'_

 _'Clara!'_

 _'No! Doctor, I don't care about your rules or your bloody survivor's guilt! If you love me, in any way… you'll come back.'_

 **Present day London**

He ran through the blue doors, kicking them shut behind him. As soon as he reached the open area around the console he carefully eased Clara down onto the floor, dropping to his knees beside her.

"Clara?" With trembling fingers he tugged aside the collar of her blouse and desperately felt for a pulse. His sigh of relief was loud enough to echo around the console room when he found it. Strong and steady. He dropped his head to listen to the sound of her breathing. That was fine too. At least, normal for a human.

He gently dipped two fingers under the top of her blouse and pulled out the TARDIS key. Carefully easing the chain over her head.

"Clara?" He murmured, stroking the side of her face with the back of one gentle finger. "Clara?" He squeezed her hand. When she still didn't respond. He pulled his sonic glasses from his pocket and scanned her body from head to toe. Some trauma around her abdomen, but superficial bruising, nothing to be overly concerned about. Other than that her body was healthy. She just wasn't waking up.

He pulled off his coat and padded it up under her head to make her more comfortable, before looking around for something more suitable for her to recover on than the floor. (He refused to allow himself to consider that she might not yet recover.) There was nothing remotely suitable in the console room. The chairs were all hard angles and no support. Reluctant to leave her for any length of time, he leapt down the stairs to the lower level in a single bound, darted into the corridor and into the first room he came across. He swept a pile of books off a small, two seater settee and wrestled it out of the room, through the corridor and up the stairs. He gently lifted Clara onto it, along with her makeshift pillow, and using more coats, this time from the coat-rack, tenderly covered her up to keep her warm.

The whole time she was being jostled, she didn't respond. Needing something further to do, he rescanned her with his sonic glasses. There was no change.

He sat down on the hard, black chair across from her and watched her breathing in and out, but he couldn't remain still for long. He leapt down the stairs again and grabbed his guitar. Returning to his chair, he turned down the amplifier to a whisper and began to play. But it didn't sound right. He took out his sonic screwdriver and set about enhancing the amplifier. But after a couple of hours tinkering, it still sounded wrong. In fact, even the hum of the TARDIS sounded wrong. Or perhaps it was just the absence of sound that disturbed him. Or maybe the fear that Clara's silence would never end.

Discarding the guitar, he scanned Clara for the umpteenth time, there was still no change. All the time he was wondering – is she still in there? Fear clawed at him – conversations past, running through his head. The things that were said and the things that went unsaid…

And the way she idolised him. ' _Old fashioned heros only exist in old fashioned story books Clara.'_

 _'What about you? You stop bad things happening every minute of every day. That sounds… pretty heroic to me'_

"I'm no hero Clara." He murmured to the uncaring air. "I'm just a selfish, stupid old man. Look what I let happen to you."

Unable to bear the not knowing any longer, he gently touched the tips of his fingers to her temples and tentatively probed inside her mind to see if he could feel anything of her essence in there.

And then all at once she was screaming.

Her body lurched, back arching, face screwed up with agony, her weight shifted with the sudden movement and she began sliding towards the floor as all her muscles contracted, her arms and legs jerking.

"Clara!" The Doctor yelled in alarm. He instantly let go of her head, and caught her before she hit the ground, easing her down while her body still thrashed wildly.

"Clara!" He shouted desperately again, snatching at one of her flailing hands and gripping it hard to let her know he was there.

Her screaming stopped as quickly as it had begun and she opened her eyes as a loud rasping gasp escaped her, her body was still jerking but the spasms were subsiding.

Her gaze landed on him briefly before flickering away, taking in her surroundings, flickering back to him and then away again as though she couldn't trust what she could see.

"Clara. Look at me." He knelt over her, trying to catch her attention. One hand still on hers, his other reached out to cup her chin gently.

Her eyes settled on him again as he touched her, they were wide, her pupils huge and full of fear. She swallowed a couple of times as though about to speak, then went back to searching her surroundings again, jerking her head away from his touch.

"Clara!" He gripped her shoulders trying to force her to look at him. "It's okay, Clara, you're safe."

"Get off me!" She snarled suddenly, trying to jerk out of his grasp, writhing and kicking out at him when he didn't let go.

"Doctor!" She screamed in panic, her wide, terrified eyes searching, looking everywhere but at him.

"Doctor!"

To be continued…


	5. Chapter 5

_A.N: Hugs and love to Kittykatgurrl63, Paige who, Jedi Senshi, 007x00 and Padme's Sister for your lovely reviews. Thank you! Really helped me with the motivation for finishing this chapter._

 _And to , fivebyfivek, summerrayah, Skylar2516, CrazyforSpike and x-men are awesome for your favs/follows_

 _You are all awesome! And I hope you have a fab weekend! This is the last chapter._

I own nothing.

 **Five – Consequences**

 _'_ _Maybe this is what I wanted. Maybe this is it. Maybe this is why I kept running. Maybe this is why I kept taking all those stupid risks. Kept pushing it.'_

 _'_ _This is my fault.'_

 _'_ _This is my choice.'_

 _'_ _I let you get reckless.'_

 _'_ _Why shouldn't I be reckless? You're reckless! All the bloody time. Why can't I be like you?'_

 _'_ _Clara, there is nothing special about me. I'm nothing, but I'm less breakable than you… I should've taken care of you.'_

 _'_ _I never asked you to.'_

 _'_ _You shouldn't have to ask!'_

 **Present day London**

"Clara I'm here!" He yelled, scrambling swiftly out of her reach as she kicked the outside of his thigh hard with her heel.

"Where's the Doctor?" she demanded angrily, leaping to her feet. "What've you done with him?"

"Clara, I'm the Doctor. I'm right here!" He shouted back in exasperation, using the console to pull himself up, wincing as he put weight on the leg she'd just kicked.

"No." She shook her head, backing away from him, her eyes skirting the console room for a weapon.

"Clara!" He made the mistake of grabbing for her and she spun, aiming a swift turning kick to his head. He dodged out of the way, and stepped back quickly hands in the air.

"Clara, I'm not going to hurt you!"

"The Doctor! Where is he? Tell me now or I swear I'll…"

"Clara Oswald. I'm right here! Look..." He pulled his sonic glasses from his pocket and showed them to her before carefully placing them on the console and backing away.

She stared at him like he was insane.

"Put them on." He encouraged, nodding. "See for yourself."

Clara narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What is that?"

"Just… just put them on." He said, his voice slipping into gentle soothing tones, as though trying to pacify a startled animal. "You'll see."

"If I do, will you tell me where the Doctor is?"

"Clara, I swear, I'll tell you anything you want to know."

"Right." She huffed in exasperation. Snatching the glasses off the console and putting them on, frustrated. "There! Okay. What now?

Ow!"

She clutched at the sides of her head as a rippling pain went through her, like something being teased apart in her head, then sewn back together slightly differently.

Her vision seemed to shift, and through the darkened lenses she suddenly saw him. Her Doctor. All thin limbs and grey hair. She pulled the glasses away with trembling hands, not noticing when they fell to the floor with a clatter that made the doctor wince.

"Doctor! Oh God! I'm so sorry!"

She flung herself against his chest, sobbing hard. Hands gripping his sides painfully. He uttered a low cry of relief and his arms were around her in an instant, grasping her tightly, pulling her even closer as his breath hitched.

He was so very glad that the hug was hiding his face, as he wasn't sure if he could hold onto the tears that were threatening to spill from his sleep-deprived eyes.

"Clara." he murmured, gently into her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, I think your memories got scrambled by the quantum field, but you should be okay now. Tell me, what do you remember?"

She pulled away from the hug and looked up at him in puzzlement, shaking her head.

"What do you mean?"

"Before you woke up. What's the last thing that you remember?"

She frowned for a few moments and then gave a loud frightened gasp, leaping away from him and clutching at her abdomen.

"The raven!" she cried, wheeling around in alarm, her panicked eyes searching the room.

"Clara, it's okay, it's gone." He reached out to reassure her but she backed away, her hands flying to the back of her neck.

"What about the chronolock?" she demanded, shakily.

"Gone."

"You're sure?"

He beckoned her forward. She hesitated anxiously for a second before complying. As she drew close to him he reached around her to pull her pony tail away from her neck with one hand and the collar of her shirt down with the other.

"Definitely gone." He assured her, giving the back of her neck a brief rub and a pat before letting her go.

The anxiety fell away from her face and she laughed.

"You did it!" She cried, beaming joyfully up into his face. "You did it! You thought of a way! I knew you would!"

"Did you?" He muttered weakly. "I didn't…"

"I was never worried." She laughed again. "Well maybe a bit." She conceded as the memories started to rush back. "but, admit it. I was pretty awesome!" She smiled widely. Her eyes shining with delight.

The Doctor's face hardened, his lips drew together in a thin line.

"You enjoyed that?"

"What? Well no." she said quickly, catching his expression. "Not all of it." She smiled hesitantly. "It was a _bit_ exciting though. Wasn't it?" she nudged him playfully.

"Not for me." He shook his head, turning away from her.

"Awww! Come on! I know you love it just as much as I do." She threw her arms around him and hugged him from behind.

"No." He shook his head firmly, untangling himself from her arms and turning back to face her. "No Clara, that was too close."

"You'll feel differently as soon as you land the TARDIS somewhere and we step outside those doors!" She promised, laughing.

His eyes flickered away from her. He didn't answer.

"So, where are we going?" She prompted.

He shook his head.

"Come on Doctor! I'm fine now. Let's go! Monsters! Planets to be saved!" She grinned widely.

He sighed, gritting his teeth, and looked right at her, his expression serious. "Clara, wherever it is I'm going next. I can't let you come with me." He told her.

"What?!"

"It's too dangerous." His gaze met hers resolutely.

"Don't be ridiculous!" She scoffed. "That's never bothered you before!"

"No. Well, yes. It did. But I was stupid and selfish. I enjoyed your company too much to do the right thing. I'm sorry Clara, I should've stopped you travelling with me a long time ago." He looked away at the hurt look in her expression.

"You 'enjoyed my company'?!" Clara bit out. "What the hell does that mean? You love me Doctor! I know you do!"

"Clara…" his voice was rough and his expression suddenly vulnerable. He paused and composed himself quickly. "Clara, I'm sorry but you said it yourself, about why you keep taking stupid risks. Why you keep pushing it. You wanted something bad to happen. You wanted to see how far you had to push it before it… before it killed you."

"No. No. that's not it. I…"

"Clara I won't let me or the way I live my life be the means of you destroying yourself."

"I'm not trying to bloody kill myself!" She yelled, defensively.

"Oh really? Well you haven't been making much of an effort to stay alive either!" He bit back at her.

"Look." Clara said desperately, lowering her voice. "I know I've been… reckless. I have...! But I'll be more careful. I'll listen to you. I'll do what I'm told."

He shook his head with a sad smile. "Clara, we both know that's never going to happen. Besides which, we both know that however careful you – or I – am, we're both putting your life at risk every single time that you travel with me."

"Doctor, you said it yourself. We've all got to die someday."

"NOT WITH ME!" He roared suddenly, rounding on her. His eyes flashing with fury. "Not on MY watch!"

She flinched, gasping. Her eyes brimming over with tears at the depth of his feeling.

His expression softened at her reaction and he looked contrite. He gave her a tight half smile in apology.

"Have you any idea what it was like for me? What it was like watching you fall?" He asked quietly, his voice audibly thickening around the lump in his throat. He turned his face away from her, palms flat on the console, head hanging down. Deflated and spent.

"I thought I'd lost you forever..." he finished, sadly.

Guilt tore through Clara's heart at suddenly seeing him so lost and vulnerable. "I know, I know and I'm sorry! I really am Doctor." She clutched his arm, forcing him to look at her. "But you saved me. Like you always do! That's what we do. We save each other."

"No Clara." He said firmly. "I can't have that. I can't always be there the next time you decide to find out how much danger you have to put yourself in for it to kill you."

"I told you I won't. I've learnt my lesson…"

"Of course you have… And you're also one of the best liars I know… besides me." He sighed wearily as he turned to face her.

She looked into his pale, drawn face, suddenly realising how tired he looked. His eyes were rimmed with red, his jaw unshaven. How long had it been since he'd slept? She suddenly realised how much she'd put him through…

"Doctor." She started. "I really am sorry. I didn't realise…"

"I know." He muttered, his voice rough, patting her arm briefly before turning back away from her, busying himself with the console.

"But it's like you said". She added, slightly heartened, "If I just let you take care of me…?"

"Clara. This IS me taking care of you." He stated firmly, pulling the lever to dematerialise the TARDIS. Clara realised with a swoop of her gut that they were right outside her flat.

"No!" She cried.

"Clara."

"I thought you loved me!" She accursed tearfully.

"Clara, I'm doing this _because_ I love you." He snapped. "I can't lose you again Clara. I can't ever go through that again. I need you home and safe."

"This is my home!"

"You need a life."

"I've got a life. It's with you!"

"Me? I'm just a daft old man in a box Clara! I'm no good for you. You need to be with some humans for a change. Get a boyfriend… or a girlfriend. A proper life, not rattling around with me facing death at every corner!"

"Don't do this!" She begged.

"Clara, it's done."

"Change your mind!"

"I'm sorry." he shook his head slowly as he pulled down the lever to open the doors. "I'm so sorry Clara, but this is the only way I know to keep you safe. For once I'm going to do what I should do, not what I want to do."

"So that's it? I'm never going to see you again?" the tears were flowing freely now, it was all she could do to hold herself together in one piece.

"Clara, I don't think I'll be able to stop myself from keeping an eye on you." He promised with a sad smile. "Of course we'll see each other again. But no more adventures… not for a while anyway"

She wiped her face with her hands and sighed shakily, before nodding slowly.

"Fine." She hissed. "I'll go. But I think you're making a mistake."

"When it comes to you, I usually do." He conceded. "But not this time I think." He closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her, his resolve almost crumbling when she clutched him back desperately. But she was the one to break the embrace. She looked into his sad eyes for a moment, then pulled his head down and kissed him lightly on the cheek before turning away from him and walking swiftly out of the TARDIS, her head held high.

She didn't look around to see the TARDIS dematerialise behind her, she couldn't bear that. And if she knew anything about the Doctor, she knew he was just as broken up as she was, but she knew his stubborn nature would force him to follow this course of action if he thought it was best for her. And she also knew, if there was one thing about the Doctor that she could be certain of, it was that he would be back.

She allowed herself a small smile of reassurance at this fact as she let herself into her flat and quietly closed the door behind her.

 **The End**

A.N: I'm so sorry!

I really think this is something the Doctor could have done. He'd definitely put Clara's safety and wellbeing above any feelings he might have. And he's a self-confessed idiot. I really struggled to finish this one as I knew it wouldn't be what everyone wanted, which is why it's a bit rambling. but it's the way I'd've preferred Clara to leave – if she had to leave.

But the good news is, Clara's alive in this little universe – so anything's possible!

If it's any consolation – I've been thinking about following this up with a short sequel. A sort of fix it for the fix it. If there's any interest in that let me know

Thank you so much for reading. Please don't hate me J


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